Time of Dying
by Eternaly Serene
Summary: Naruto has been feeling sick for sometime now and his connection to Kyuubi has disappeared, he brushed it off as a simple cold. No one could figure out what was wrong with him the day he finally collapsed. But who is this girl, and why is she so worried?
1. Ch1 Illness?

Time Of Dying Ch.1

I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

**Summary:** Naruto has been feeling sick for sometime now and even if his connection to Kyuubi had disappeared, he had brushed it off as a simple cold. After all, he'd never been sick before. No one could figure out what was wrong with him the day he finally collapsed, not even Godaime Hokage Tsunade of the sanin. But who's this girl claming to know Naruto, and why is she so worried.

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children and maybe some violence.

"blah" = speaking

'blah'= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l 

Naruto was lying on his bed, a layer of sweat on his skin could be seen as he was only in his pajama pants. 'Damn these heat flashes, ok I know I've never been sick before but I didn't think it would be this bad' Naruto thought to himself, 'and why doesn't Kyuubi answer me, is he angry or something?' he asked himself even though he knew he didn't know the answer.

He'd been like this for about a month and a half now and it was wearing him down. He had first noticed it as he kept feeling week and weary from time to time, but thought nothing of it. Soon after he would have heat flashes and his body would seem shaky and dizzy, he would have coughing fits and occasionally fever. Yes and then there were that intense pain in his lower abdomen, he swore that it was around the seal area.

But he couldn't lay here all day, after all he had to meet his team today. He sat up abruptly but immediately regretted it as his blood pressure sank and he got a headache. 'ow… damn, I have to meet the others today even though we don't have any missions. I know why though, it's the one year anniversary of me dragging Sasuke-teme back to the village in one piece' Naruto thought and sighed loudly before he went to take a shower.

And Naruto had done just that, he had literally dragged Sasuke back to the village with him in sheer protest but had calmed down after three days in Konoha. Sasuke had gotten some therapy but he was still under ANBU surveillance and was relived of active duty, meaning he was suspended temporarily form shinobi duties.

Naruto had gotten the respect he always wanted and was highly thought of by both the shinobi and villagers alike.

Naruto came out form the bathroom with only a towel and walked over to his wardrobe 'Damn it really hurts today' he thought and gripped his stomach. He had moved to a new apartment in the newer part of Konoha and so had many other of the Rookie 9 such as Kiba and Sakura. Kiba actually lived two stories down from his own apartment.

He decided he wanted to take on casual clothing today and put on black baggy pants and slim grey muscle shirt. of course he still had a kunai with him 'you never know' he said to himself and began to walk to meet his team over at Ichirakus.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

When he arrived he saw Sakura and Sasuke already waiting for him. "There you are, I almost thought that we had to come over at your place and drag you out of bed" Sakura said with a smile. He knew there was no bite behind her words.

"Sorry, really didn't want to get up" he said. Well it wasn't a lie, he didn't want to get up but only because he didn't feel very good, actually he felt awful, like if he were to take one wrong step he'd fall over from exhaustion, but he couldn't tell them that, he didn't want to worry them.

"Aww… you're hopeless" "Hn" was their reply and they began walking. They where going to have a picnic together with the rest of Rookie 9 and Team Gai, and they where walking over to the park were they where waiting.

Suddenly Naruto stopped. 'Damn not now' he thought as he felt dizzy and extremely hot, 'Damn heat flash' he thought and then got a coughing fit again. He stood and coughed in his hand.

Sakura and Sasuke stopped and turned when they herd Naruto chough. Well it was a serious chough and they where also attracting attention. Then they saw Naruto sway a little and they instantly became worried. Sakura went over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

'Shit that hurt' Naruto thought and drew back his hand as the coughing stopped and looked at his hand. His eyes widened. In his hand there was blood, his blood. 'What the hell is going on with m…' that was as far as his thought got as be fell backwards and when he landed instantly got some kind of cramp and gripped his stomach in pain before stopping and falling unconscious. Thus he didn't notice the shocked and worried faces of his friends and others.

"Naruto… NARUTO" Sakura said as she bent down, being a medical ninja, she checked his vital signs and gasped. His pulse was really weak and his breathing shallow. She noticed how he was sweating and felt his forehead. Her face became serious, he had a really high fever.

Sasuke on the sidelines became more and more worried for his friend. He'd never seen him sick before. "Sakura is he going to be alright?" Sasuke asked worry clear on his face. "I don't… know Sasuke, his vitals are low and he… he had cramps and coughed up blood… Those are clear signs that something's seriously wrong. We need to get him to the hospital right away" Sakura answered in a somewhat shaky tone. Sasuke acted immediately and took one of Naruto's arms over his shoulder and set off towards the hospital with Sakura behind him.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

When they arrived at the hospital they saw Tsunade at the reception talking to a nurse. "Tsunade-sama" Sakura said and ran over. Tsunade turned around and immediately noticed Naruto's limp form over Sasuke's shoulder. She gasped slightly. "What happened?" she asked the two teammates.

"Where not sure, first he's his usual happy self… then he stops looking somewhat odd and then he… he…" Sakura said in a frustrated tone as tears started forming in her eyes. Sasuke decided to take over for her "He started coughing up blood, collapsed and had cramps before passing out" he said in a hurried tone as nurses came and laid him on a bed that was taken inn to the emergency room with Tsunade following.

"Sakura we need your help in here and Sasuke you need to stay at the waiting area, I'll come after we are done" she said and motioned for the room down the hall. Sasuke didn't say anything but silently walked over to the waiting spots.

Sasuke was worried and sad but most of all angry, both at Naruto for not telling him something was wrong, didn't he trust him, but also at himself and the other's for not noticing sooner. 'Damn that could not have happened just now, how long's this been going on?… Naruto why didn't you say anything' Sasuke thought 'We didn't even notice anything…'.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Tsunade and Sakura had come out of the emergency room after a few hours and walked over to Sasuke. "Sasuke I want you and Sakura to go and get the other's, the rest of Rookie 9, Team Gai, Kakashi, Jiraia and Iruka" Tsunade said and they complied.

On their way Sasuke looked over at Sakura and saw that her eyes where glossy, red and a little puffy. It looked like she'd been crying softly. 'Is it really that bad' he thought.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Everyone were now at the hospital outside Naruto's room. They had heard that Naruto had collapsed form Sasuke and Sakura and had come right away.

"Ok as I assume you all know Naruto collapsed today," she looked at the worried faces but all of them nodded their heads "Well the reason is still unknown. All the tests we've taken has come back. He was negative towards toxins and some forms of diseases. His body should function normally, as we can't find anything wrong with the tests and his physical appearance. However he has a very high fever and his vitals are low. He was brought here this morning and he hasn't woken up yet" she said and looked at the faces that showed pain, sadness, confusion and somewhat anger.

"What is it then, do you know anything more?" Kakashi said, he was worried for his student, well former student. "Well what we do know is that this has been going on for some time now as his symptoms have developed, and his immune system has taken quite the damage" Tsunade said and looked at Jiraia, she wanted to talk to him, she wanted to know if 'it' could have something to do with this.

Iruka looked sad and in pain, he hadn't noticed anything even though he'd been with Naruto two days ago. He looked fine then, nothing visibly wrong. 'Well he always where good at hiding his pain though' Iruka thought and silently prayed that Naruto would be OK.

There where mixed feelings between the other's. Some where angry, like Kiba and Sasuke. They where angry at Naruto for not saying anything, but they where most angry at themselves for not noticing anything on their own. Others where sad. What would they do now as the hyperactive blond was hospitalized?

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~


	2. Ch2 A Girl

Time Of Dying Ch.2: A mysterious Girl

I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

**WARNING: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children and maybe some violence.

As you may, or may not, notice I left Jiraya alive in this fic.

"blah" = speaking

'blah'= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l

Tsunade, Jiraya and Kakashi where all in Naruto's hospital room. Jiraya was going to inspect the seal. They suspected that it could have something to do with Naruto's condition. Everyone knew what kind of things the fox was capable of and they didn't want anything bad happening to Naruto because they didn't check the possibility. Although they had never seen the fox do something like this. Actually the fox had seamed to be quite calm the last year after the fight with Pain and Madara.

Of course it could have been some kind of mental thing as well that had caused this, but after a quick inspection of his mind, it was eliminated it from the 'possible cause' list. This was done because apparently mentally he seamed fine, or actually better than most shinobi would be after seeing and experiencing the things he had in his life.

Jiraya first lifted the boy's shirt up and looked over the marks that made the seal. Then he did some kind of weird hand sign and held out his hand until it glowed a faint yellow and then placed it over the seal. The seal glowed a bright red and then faded back to the brown-blackish color it usually was. It was deadly silent as the others waited for Jiraya to say something.

Jiraya had a dumbfounded but serious expression on his face before he said "There's nothing wrong with the seal, it's working as it should, actually better than I hoped" and then thought to himself 'And that's the odd part. The last time I checked it, it didn't'. Although he was relived that this didn't seem to be the problem, and it looked as if it was that way for the other two as well, but it still brought new questions like 'Then what's the problem?, what could it be? and are we going to find out?', that all of them wanted answers to, even if they could not get them.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

It had been a week since Naruto collapsed and he still hadn't woken up, in fact he was getting worse. It seamed that some of his internal organs had started weakening, all of the tissue in certain areas, especially around his abdomen, had almost started to disintegrate and he had fallen into a coma. He was still fine though, it wasn't deadly… but if this continued on for much longer… it would be.

Everyone was worried, Sakura had been up for several days straight trying to find out what the problem was and what it could cause, if there was some sort of cure to it or at least _something_ they could work with, but she hadn't succeeded yet. Finally Tsunade had to order her off duty at the hospital so she could get some well needed sleep and rest her stressed mind and body.

Sasuke didn't know what to do, he'd been worried of course, but he was also afraid, scared. Naruto was like a brother, he couldn't loose him, not again. He'd lost everyone else, he couldn't stand the feeling of loosing someone again, the last time that happened it had almost cost him his sanity, Naruto had been the one to save him last time, now he couldn't if he was the one to die. Sasuke had been training non stop since the news of Naruto falling in coma came out, and he had the urge to cry and scream out all his frustration, but he didn't, he had to be strong he told himself, for Naruto.

The rest of the rookie 9 and Team Gai weren't much better, they were all ether moping around thinking at home, training or visiting Naruto at the hospital, ether way Naruto was always on their mind, no one seamed to rest and they all wanted to think positively, but it seamed hard to do so at the time. Naruto had always been the one to cheer them up at a time like this. All of them where beating themselves up for not noticing anything, but some more than others.

Kakashi had also taken it rather hard, he had met his old team once a week and still hadn't noticed anything. Some sensei he was, even if he wasn't their actual sensei anymore he still should have been able to see if something was bothering one of them. But he also couldn't help but to wonder why Naruto hadn't said anything, it was like he didn't want them to know. Didn't he know how serious it was? Or maybe he didn't want them to worry… oh god he really could be an idiot.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Jiraya had taken this opportunity to check up on an old friend of Naruto's and sent a letter concerning his condition to her with a bird. He didn't know why, but Naruto had told him that if he ever became ill, he should contact her, all though it was over two years ago he'd said this, so he didn't expect Naruto to remember it.

Personally Jiraya thought the girl was freaky, but knew better than to judge her at first sight, I mean she acted friendly enough. She had yellow and cat like eyes with matching yellow earrings, long white hair tied in a high ponytail, sun kissed skin, and fangs. She was feral looking because of her features.

While still on their trip, Naruto had gone off on his own once, or so he said, and met her. He'd been missing for about two days when a frantic Jiraya had found him sleeping back at their original camp, where he had first gone missing. Of course he never told Tsunade, or anyone else for that matter, about this. It was embarrassing, I mean how do you loose a kid as hyperactive and loud as Naruto?

It was when he had found him again that Naruto had Introduced Jiraya to this strange girl. She looked dangerous, but she was not a ninja, she barely had any chakra at all, it was equal with that of a civilian. But he learned not to underestimate her because of that, she was pretty good at material arts and could stand up for herself. She was also, surprisingly, good hearted, she could be snappy, especially at him (She knew of his books), but was all in all a nice girl, even if she looked like a really scary person.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Tsunade was scared, she didn't know what caused this to happen to Naruto, although she hadn't ruled out Kyuubi just yet, even if the seal was seemingly fine, she just couldn't do that. She know how much damage he could do. Even though there where different options as well. It could've been some sort of serum that turns the immune system against the body itself, and then leaving the system and letting the immune system do the job of destroying the body for them. This would, thus, not show up in any test results.

She didn't think that this was the case though, as the immune system only seamed weakened and not aggressive towards anything. This relived her a bit, cause if it had been that then she wouldn't have known how to treat him.

He became worse every day that passed, he would sweat and have very high temperatures, cramps and it was like his body was slowly decomposing even though he was still alive. But it seamed as if whatever was doing this, tried to slow the process as it was becoming slightly slower every time it became worse.

And that's what bothered her, it was as if this, whatever 'this' was, were trying to drag the process out, like killing him slowly and painfully. God, she didn't want to think that way, but it had to be some explanation for his sudden life threatening situation. 'Although, it could be a good thing that it was dragged out' Tsunade thought and wrote some notes 'It could mean that whatever is causing this does not wish to kill him… at least so I hope', but she knew that without further monitoring this was not a possibility. Though she was glad that she had him on painkillers, she was sure that 'this' was painful, very painful.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

The village in general, both villagers and shinobi alike, was taking Naruto's sudden 'illness' quite hard. No one was cheering the day up with smile and laughter, all of them was ether not in the mood to do so, or knew that the others where not in the mood to laugh and have fun. They missed the laughter and the happy faces of their fellow shinobi and whished for him to become better soon.

Of course there were people that still didn't know the blond very well but still wanted for him to wake up again like nothing happened, as good as new.

When the clan heads had heard of Naruto falling into a coma, they immediately became worried, they knew the impact that Naruto had on the village and knew his death would bring nothing but misery. They observed their children and saw the change immediately, some where quiet and others where angry.

These where emotions that was usually never shown, much because of Naruto himself. A lot of the clan heads also heard that Naruto had been sick for some time and hadn't done anything. They thought it odd and weird that he didn't and that people hadn't noticed anything.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Meanwhile a girl, no older than 20, or so it seamed, got a letter. She read it over with golden eyes and immediately bolted out the door after the first few lines, heading for the leaf village.


End file.
